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My Ghost Story

My Ghost Story:

A true story

By

T.L. Stafford

I have no intention of this story, to change the way you believe or think about paranormal phenomena. If you don’t believe in that sort of thing. Then I invite you to enjoy my story any way you wish. For those of you who believe in such things or have had their own experience. I invite you to read and let me share an experience with you that scared me very badly. It changed my views on life in many ways and at such a young age.

I became a hardcore believer in ghosts at a very young age. Upon the marriage of my Step-Father to my mother. We were out of the Poor House and onto better homes to be poor in! (See what I did there?) We moved in and lived in a beautiful house soon after in a beautiful neighborhood. We had a huge backyard with amazing green grass. The house was huge to me. At seven or eight years old, I suppose it was enormous. I have an idea how my parents might have been able to afford it. (My Grand-parents help with money, I’m sure. On my Step-Fathers side) An old ranch-like style home, the living room was gigantic… The basement was huge! Every room painted a shade of white. So clean and perfect in every way.

Except, of course, it was haunted!

What kind of haunted you ask? Well, I will tell you. These explanations are not just memories of me, but my parents and older brother as well. So the following are experiences that we all had. I will end the story with my own personal experience!

In the beginning, it seems like most haunted house cases I have read about throughout my life begin, slowly. Sounds, creeks… Talking. Is that the neighbors? Did you hear someone? Was that you in the kitchen? Who left the food out? Who got into the fridge? Who moved the screen away from the fireplace? These were very serious questions my parents asked us, kids.

On a weekly routine, we would leave the house and go to my Grand Parents home for dinner. We would leave and be home by dark. You could see the lights of the house shining brightly as you pulled on to the street. All other homes around us, mostly dark and quiet. Not ours. Every light in the house was on. I mean, every, single, light!

Closet doors would all be open. Every switch on, every light cord pulled. From basement to garage. Porch lights, Oven lights, flashlights in drawers! Laundry rooms, bathrooms, Sometimes faucets would be on also. All of them.

It was amazing to my brother and I. We didn’t realize what was happening at all. I was clueless really. My parents really dumb-ed down the situation and my silly seven or eight-year-old self just didn’t pay attention.

I am not ashamed to admit; bad things do lurk in the dark. I have a feeling some of them can get you also, even if you don’t want them to. The dark holds the secrets of what the light cannot show, and it covets all that it possesses. I know a lot of people would talk this off as an overactive child’s imagination. And yes I do have an overactive imagination. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be the writer I want to become or the Painter I enjoy being. As a young child, I saw a type of hell that has marked me forever in my thoughts. Like when its time for me to go into the dark deep basement to change the light bulb that has burned out, or climb the stairs to the pitch black because no one turned the hall light on. The dark is there. It’s waiting for you…

In the basement, the boxes of my stepfather’s life were full of treasures. My brother and I often sneaked down there to peek at cool electronic stuff. Radio equipment, instruments… Cool lights like strobes and disco ball type things. My stepfather had the best treasures.

The basement was one huge room. It only spanned half the gigantic house though and it always felt like it should have been larger. Something I have thought about a lot in my adult life.

One day, while going through treasured boxes I wasn’t supposed to. A loud bang filled the air.

BANG!

It scared the crap out of my brother and I. The sound came from across the basement near the middle of the basement wall. The only thing there was a very large crawlspace door. A cast iron black latch was keeping that door shut.

If you were to stand in front of this door and go directly up through the floor, you would find yourself directly in the middle of the house. Most likely facing the living room wall. The kitchen would be on the other side of that wall. So the crawl space went under the kitchen.

My brother and I stood there, looking at the door. What was that bang? We thought an animal must be on the other side. We rushed upstairs to get our mom. Dad came home from work later and she discussed with him what happened to us in the basement and they both decided to go down there and have a look.

They walked down the stairs slowly together. My dad was talking about work and they both discussed how they needed to go through the boxes down there. It appears that a few of the boxes, somehow have ripped open, (whistles innocently) spilling the contents all over the floor. My brother and I made ourselves comfortable on the basement steps, even though we were told to stay upstairs.

My dad just casually unlatched the door without hesitation. He had never opened it before and didn’t seem concerned at all. With all that was going on, he just had no concern at all. As an adult, I just don’t understand how he could have been so casual in his actions. As a child sitting on the stairs, my breath caught in my throat. What is in there? Oh my God will a raccoon jump out and attack mom and dad? Something made that huge bang. I watched scared and worried we would all be attacked. He flung it open.

The next part is from my father’s memory of the ordeal that was about to occur. Mine as well, I was there when most of it happened.

Light from inside spilled out onto them. It was very odd really. The large half door swung to the right. The crawlspace spanned far under the house. A light-socket with a very bright light bulb hung down, every four feet or so. Space reached four light bulbs long, easily sixteen to twenty foot. And then turned right. The space was all brick. Like a solid brick tunnel. Three and a half foot by three and a half foot. Or just over one meter by one meter for you metric readers. No wires, pipes, dirt, dust… It was practically sparkling. There were no light switches or pull cord for the lights. If you were to crawl under them or past the bulbs you would have to be so careful. You would surely hit them with your body.

My father quickly slammed the door and latched the lock. He turned to my mother and asked her if she knew how to shut off the lights. Just then…

BANG!

The door shook hard against the latch. Something on the other side slammed the door hard. My father grabbed the latch and threw open the door. My mother gasped quite loudly and I’m sure my brother and my eyes were as round as tea saucers.

Nothing there… The lights were bright and casting shadows throughout the basement. My father shut the door and latched it once again.

They started walking toward us and we bolted upstairs. We watched as my mom started up the stairs and my dad followed. When he reached the third step. The noise behind the door returned. Except now, it was so loud and hard that the whole floor shook throughout the house.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Over and over the sound reverberated in our home. Like something was trying to get out. My parents ran up the stairs and my mother entered the kitchen with a face as white as a sheet. My father followed and slammed the basement door shut. The second the door was shut, the slamming stopped.

Before my brother and I even said a word, we were in the car heading toward my Grandparents house.

My parents told me this next part.

My mom and dad sat down and told everything that was going on. They didn’t think my Grandfather, a very important businessman that has traveled the world, but now retired or Grandmother, the wife of a very successful businessman, would believe them. He didn’t say a sentence until they were finished. He just nodded and encouraged them now and then to continue and not leave anything out.

He encouraged my parents to discover the history of the home. The next day, after a phone call or two from my Grandfather, a very large history was obtained. Getting information in less than twenty-four hours in the 1980’s is very impressive in my opinion!

The history of the home was very sketchy. It turns out, the man that built the home was very old and a huge alcoholic by the time he passed away. He was a private man and was very mean. He hated kids and people and never talked to anyone if he could help it. It is unclear if he died within the home.

Apparently, my Grandfather talked with certain religious individuals outside of his Catholic back round. I couldn’t pry any more information on the, who, these individuals were. They discovered the favorite drink of this man that lived in our home if you can call it a home, was Jack Daniels Whiskey.

Wow, as an adult, hearing these stories, I was transfixed. It made my personal experience expand and I finally understood a little more of what happened to me next.

My parents decided to take action in an unusual way. They were informed to bring into the home, whiskey. To sit and have a few shots. Then take the remainder of the whiskey and place it on the lower steps of the basement. They were instructed to do this every day with a different bottle, every, single, day. While speaking his name and offering up their almost full bottles of booze. My parents did not drink, though they did this for over a week. They were not allowed to, waste, the liqueur. They were instructed to drink it with no emotion, but enthusiasm for a drink. Going as far as to even, act, excited about it. To beg each other to pour the shot faster! It was very clear instructions. Drink, take it seriously. Don’t waste a drop. No kids around.

The basement became off limits. A lock was placed on the door and no one went down there except my dad. Even he went down there with my mom standing at the top of the stairs. They offered the liqueur to him by saying his name. No one can remember what it was. I believe my mom does remember, but I think she is afraid to even think about it. So I didn’t push the subject with her.

The house quieted. Things were calm for some time, several months. Certain things would still occur though. If you opened a window in a room for fresh air and left that room. When you came back in the window would be closed. If you closed a window, you would soon find it open.

So my parents smartened up. Though they were quite annoyed about it. If my mom wanted a window open, she would enter a room and open it. She would stand or sit there for a few minutes and pretend that she was cold and shiver. Or maybe pretend that she changed her mind and close it. Soon, awhile later, it would be open again. She would then have to fain frustration about the windows being open. Then to close it, my father would have to do the opposite pretending to want it closed then changing his mind. That kind of stuff worked for a while.

My mother tells this next story like as if you were to say the sun shines because that is the way things are. It always shines. Well, it sounds silly, but my mom blames the spirit for the next event I will share.

One night the power went out. My mom was paranoid and sitting at the table in the kitchen drinking coffee. Other houses lights were out to, so it was the whole neighborhood. My brother and I were running like crazy boys through the house, playing in the darkness. Into the laundry room, we ran. He grabbed the bottle of bleach off the washer and started to pretend like he was going to dump it all over me. Somehow, the cap was not on tight. The Chlorine Bleach poured quickly from the bottle like a waterfall through the air. The shock on my brother’s face was priceless. I closed my eyes, only by instinct and lowered my head. I had no idea how close I came to losing my eyesight that night. The bleach drenches my hair and my brother screamed. Like he couldn’t stop pouring it on top of me. He won’t talk about the incident with me. He lies and says he can’t remember much. I know he is lying though. You can see it in his scowl.

My mother screamed and rushed me outside to our wading pool. The cold water from the garden hose was freezing and it felt like I was drench in ice water. I screamed.

My mother to this day will tell you. All the bottles were kept up high. All the bottles of poisons and soaps all had their caps on tight. Everyone makes mistakes though, right? When I said this to her, she looked hurt and an incredulous look froze on her face.

Now, the final part of my story. This part is burned into my memory. I would like to say it was or is my strongest memory from childhood. I do though, have several that have stayed with me over the years. This one is one of them. Every single moment is solid.

The time was early on some night during some month. I had just kissed my mom goodnight and my older brother and I went to our bunk beds, him on top, and me on the bottom. My hair had been bleached not too many days back from this night. The light was turned off and I lay there vividly thinking about Christmas being not too far away! Christmas is always on a seven-year-old mind! I wasn’t thinking about the giving part. More like the getting part!

I have never been able to get to sleep fast. Often at night I would play with my stuffed animals or pretend I had superman powers. I even talked to my older brother, sometimes.

So I lay there in bed dreaming about my first bike, my eyes were open and I was there in the pitch dark looking up at the boards under my brother’s mattress. I was awake, daydreaming (or night being the case) about a bike. Wow, I wanted one so bad!

At some point around five to ten minutes, after we had gone to bed, my brother was no doubt sound asleep. He had always gone to bed and fell asleep fast. He was one of those people that just close their eyes and sleep and you need a jackhammer to shake them awake.

I heard something, a low thumping noise of some kind. Being so young I practically ignored it. I was busy riding my bike in my head. I heard it again, louder this time and I knew mom or dad was coming into the room because the room filled with the light from the hall. The light was different, and my childlike mind didn’t notice this at first. I sat up in bed to address them in a childlike manner. I spoke the first words that came to my mind.

“What ya want?” I said these words as I turned my head. To the left looking out of my bed and into the room was a horrific sight that I would say has literally scarred me for life. He stood there in all his red-fired glory. His height was huge to me at such a young age. As an adult and remembering the image, I would say he was maybe six foot tall, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. He was not human. Maybe once he was. I say, he, because he was a man for sure.

I smelled something awful. And the room became very warm, kind of the opposite of most ghost tales. The grin on his face was abnormally large, it covered most of his face, and his eyes glowed a blue I have never seen the like since. His cheeks and for-head and neck were all a yellowish color that was almost literally on fire. He had no feet that I remember, but his slacks were an old dirty looking brown that seemed within a red glow. His grin widened when he saw me looking at him, and he lifted what appeared to be his arms toward me, they didn’t have much shape to them. I had to go pee really bad then. I also felt my tummy tighten and its insides come to the top of my throat.

I was terrified.

He was looking at my brother and his form kept changing shape. Sometimes it almost seemed to become solid. Then parts of him would vanish quickly. The blue parts of his eyes became deep dark holes that seemed to be open to an infinite space. His face and figure shifted back to me.

I have never seen a ghost before, but I knew right then that this was what it was. Somehow, I was able to scream! I screamed so loud and so hard I lost my voice the next day. He looked disappointed somehow and looked in the opposite direction of my bedroom door, and then he was just gone, there was nothing. No fading away or leaving, just gone. Just darkness.

That very second my parents rushed into the room and I started telling them what happened. They turned on the lights at first thinking my brother scared me, but he was stone asleep. Even snoring at eight or nine years old, he slept through the whole thing.

I remember quite well, he was mean, and he wanted me. I have always believed that. I slept with the lights on after that, for many years. I only sleep with them off now for my wife’s sake.

He was waiting in the dark. He was real. No one could ever convince me otherwise, he is probably still there.

Just so you know, we were the third family in two years to rent that beautiful house, according to my parents. The rent was so cheap for the day, and the house was so amazingly big and beautiful.

He was real! He was the monster under the bed, the eyes that peak at you from the slightly open closet door.

And I know if my foot lowered to the floor in the dark in the middle of the night, his hand would have grabbed my ankle, and pulled me, somewhere.

The dark hides so many secrets, and not all of them safe and cuddly. You have to be careful of the dark, or it will consume you. Monsters are real, I saw one with my own eyes. His home was the dark.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the last monster to ever cross my path. At least he has been one of the only supernatural ones.

This story was a true experience my family and I went through. If you don’t believe such things, then I hope you enjoyed the story anyway.

If you are a believer. I would love for you to leave a comment. Listen to your own experience.

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Published by crazywriterof6

A father of five. A husband to a beautiful and faithful wife of 18 years as of 2017. A survivor of not just Cancer but of the world. A fighter, a builder of things. An artist of hopefully not just words but painting and creating. A ghost of my former years of Electronics and computers. I love to write and it's about time I express that here and elsewhere in my life.
View all posts by crazywriterof6

Wow, was gripping! You poor kid, (I mean as you were then) must have been terrifying! Not sure I believe in ghosts though as I have never seen one, although my mum says she has, a couple of times, so I’ll keep and open mind 🙂

Not everyone can tap into the realms that make no sense to most people. Trauma is my life has brought me closer to a paranormal state. But, I have been intuitive and God has been with me my whole life. My “listen to white” phase of my blog. covers these ‘states of unsettled frequency. Black or White each have a concept of white being all color or light, and black being absence of color or light.

I have a paranormal experience or two that I will share when I get the chance to finish writing them. I am not afraid of the unknown. I am definitely tuned into their frequency. Good and Bad, I believe all things are explained thru God’ which is the “Listen to White” section in my blog. The frequency of God is White. He is the channel that people should be tuning into.

Dark frequencies are just that. Call them evil or the devil. But I believe them to be in a frequency that most can’t feel or hear. I believe things happens to the living as well, if they tune into the frequency of black. Scary things happen. I have seen. I have exorcised them gone. I have witness. I have lots to write about yet.

That was a good story. I had someone try to tap into my frequency last night. Literally tapping on pipes in the wall. But its a new house. He was trying to scare me (no one else), its was a paranormal tuned into an evil frequency. I know who it was and he is of the flesh. I opened my mind to God’s light and said, ‘you cannot and I will not let you in’. then silence and a peaceful night slumber.

What side of crazy am I on, right? I know which side and its white the color of God and he sings to me. I am being bless by God right now to write my story. If you’ve ever felt his blessing, you’ll know its God. The feeling of God is the opposite of the feeling that I would call an evil entity. Whether in the skin of a human or the absence of the flesh. They can even knock you down. I have passed out in presence of bad entity or frequency wave. My brother killed himself being unable to tune out of the frequency of Black. His haunting got the best of him. In Listen to White, the writings explain how I deal with the forces of evil, in the flesh or out. I am currently experiencing the frequency that killed my brother. So much to write about. Gosh, its over welming how much I have yet to write. lol. Thanks for letting me share. Its motivated me to start writing the color of black in my “I see” section, the one that I have been avoiding writing, other then thru my poems. Confused. Maybe you’re not. It aint easy being me 🙂 Have a great day.

Not confused at all. 🙂 I look forward to what you write! Thank you very much for sharing. I think sharing things like this are hard for a lot of people. They consider the subject Taboo. I look forward to reading “I see”.

I don’t doubt you for a moment, My own house is haunted by the spirit of my late wife, she is not a malignant spirit but she lets us know she is there in numerous ways, a very intriguing post! also thanks for liking my comments on other sites.

Wow, your wife. That is amazing. I have so much curiosity about such things. Questions we will just have to wait and see someday(Sounds kind of morbid saying it that way, lol)! Thank you so much for commenting!

I enjoyed this, your personal perspective style worked well together. Felt like I was sitting at a campfire listening to a verbal story. The part with your brother’s limbs going in and out of an ethereal plane was great.

Oh my! I have gone through the whole story and I am… I don’t know what words to put in the blank…!
I do believe there’s something between life and afterlife. Some beings that get stuck in between. Made of energy that still cling on to “life”. I would love to read other stories of your paranormal experiences!

Omg that was really scary what happened to you as a kid. I believe in these things, I believe they aren’t meant to live in our world but sometimes they break that rule. I wonder if the man ever found peace…

I don’t know if he did. I don’t think I honestly put thought into feeling sorry for him. I guess, now that you said something about it. I do a little. According to my father the house never sold and kept being rented out. Many years later it was torn down to make way for a mall. (The irony).

Yikes, so glad that the ghosts in my life have all been helpful. My grandfather died 10 days before I was born and I knew he was dead but I just didn’t know he was dead – if you get my drift. He was a constant prescence in my life until I was 18. One of my siblings also remembers him being there and infact he walked down the ailse at her wedding with her. So if anyone asked, I’d say he was dead, but I knew he was there for me anyway. He was a much nicer ghost to have!!!

I’m a believer. We lived in a house for a time when I was a kid and everyone had experiences. I wonder what the deal with the basement in your house was, how it seemed like it was supposed to be bigger? Crazy! How long did you all live there?

I have been also, for many years. I don’t live in the state and from what I understand the house isn’t there anymore. I’ll have to ask my dad again about it, It has been some time. If I had more resources when I was writing about the house. I would have looked up histories and sought out families that lived there. Maybe even looked up blueprints.

There is also a side of that is terrified. Thinking about that place. That thing that was there. I don’t know if I could/could’ve gone through all of it.

I read this in several lights. The members of my family are sensitive to such occurences so this is common place for me. After reading about your teen years previously, I am curious to know if there is a connection. Then as you described this monster, I was heart wrenched! What terrible things happened in a man’s life to make him shut down and shut everyone else out? The bottle is his only companion as his misery continues. Aside from that, the writing itself is very gripping!

Since reading your story I flicked through the memories in my head and the only unnerving memory I have is of a surreal experience I have is an experience following a candle flame concentration one evening when living in the same house as my Dad when he and my Mum had split up and I chose to live at his then new home in a place called Stapleford. In the UK. I was due to meet a boyfriend at the local at the top of the road known as Moorbridge lane. Barry ( afore mentioned boyfriend) was running late. I had given up on him turning up. So decided to start the flame concentration, the only thing I remembered was the waking part. There was a message on my phone it was not as late as I thought. I was a tad disoriented but got myself ready to go and meet him. All was going good. I did not drink much in the way of alcohol then. Not that I do these days either. I was sat at the bar when I started to feel feverish. I had not been ill previously, it was mild temperature. Early to mid autumn, here in the uk sunstroke was rare, and I was super careful anyway. My boyfriend just stopped me collapsing off the bar stool and hurt myself. I felt weird. He walked me home then went and got his bus home. He he checked I was okay the following day. Which I was apart from a bit of a headache. To this day I will never had it happen again or understood what happened then. Mystery. I have learnt from it to be wary sincr though.

You may add my experience to a story if you wish. You have my permission. ☺ ‘I Amanda Marsh. Hereby give crazywriterof6 consent to use my experience in a story if he wishes to do so’. There x signed A. J Marsh.

I too have a few stories. Ideas come in the strangest of places, dreams, things overheard stories in cafes, coffee bars, in which I change , embellish. Similar how snippets are raken to make a poison pen letter though minus the poison.